The 2010 Hong Kong electoral reform was the series of events began in 2009 and finalised in 2010 under the Consultation Document on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the Legislative Council in 2012, a document published on 18 November 2009 by the Government of Hong Kong to broaden the scope of political participation and increase the democratic elements in the 2012 elections in line with the Hong Kong Basic Law.

The proposals included modifying the arrangements for electing the Chief executive of Hong Kong and the composition and ways of electing the city's legislature in 2012, in line with the December 2007 decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC). While the pan-democracy camp attacked the conservative proposals as a rehash of those already rejected in 2005, the government said its proposals were "more democratic", and could not exceed what was authorised by Beijing.

The consultations took place in the backdrop of talks about a de facto referendum, and the 2010 Hong Kong by-election precipitated by the resignation of five pan-democrat legislators in January 2010. Official attempts to secure the passage of the proposals resulted in a media campaign by the city's leaders and an unprecedented televised debate between the Chief executive and a leader of an opposition party; it also resulted in renewing of dialogue between Beijing and the Pan-democrats which ceased after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Following the Chinese Central Government's acceptance at the eleventh hour of a proposal by the Democratic Party concerning the new District Council functional constituency seats which they had up to that point opposed as being in contravention of the Basic Law, the consultation package was accepted by LegCo on 25 June, with 46 votes. The pan-democrat camp was split when the Democratic Party voted with the government amidst severe recriminations and protests of betrayal; the League of Social Democrats and the Civic Party remained opposed to the package but were unable to block the passage. The Chief executive assented on 29 June 2010, and China's parliament ratified the decision on 28 August.

Background

Pan-democrats' blueprint

In March 2007, the pan-democrats published their own blueprint, the 'mainstream transitional proposal' drawn up with the support of 21 legislators in accordance with principles of equal and universal suffrage and which they said reflected public opinion. They proposed that 400 elected district councillors would join the existing 800-member Election Committee, making a total of 1,200-members; Nominations threshold would be set at 50 EC members, and the candidate for CE would be elected in a one-person, one-vote election. Ultimately, the nomination committee would be scrapped. For the legislature, they propose returning half Legco's seats by direct election in single-seat constituencies, with the other half determined by proportional representation.^[1]

Chief executive's report

During his campaign in the CE election in 2007, Donald Tsang promised that he would "endeavour to forge consensus within the community within his new term, so that universal suffrage could be implemented as soon as possible." A Green Paper on Constitutional Development was published on 11 July to open discussion on the options, roadmap and timetable for implementing universal suffrage for the CE and the LegCo. According to the consultation document, the CE submitted a report to the NPCSC on 12 December 2007, that "reflect faithfully the views of different sectors of the community on the issue of universal suffrage received during the public consultation period." The government document asserted that "more than half of the public supported the implementation of universal suffrage for the CE and the LegCo ('dual universal suffrage') in 2012, and at the same time, implementing universal suffrage for the CE first by no later than 2017 would stand a better chance of being accepted by the majority in our community."^[2]

NPCSC resolution

On 29 December 2007, the NPCSC resolved^[3] that:

the election of the fifth Chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the year 2017 may be implemented by the method of universal suffrage; that after the Chief executive is selected by universal suffrage, the election of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may be implemented by the method of electing all the members by universal suffrage... Appropriate amendments conforming to the principle of gradual and orderly progress may be made to the specific method for selecting the fourth Chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the year 2012 and the specific method for forming the fifth term Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the year 2012 in accordance with the provisions of Articles 45 and 68, and those of Article 7 of Annex I and Article III of Annex II to the Basic Law

The decision stipulated that:

The bills on the amendments to the method for selecting the Chief executive and the proposed amendments to such bills shall be introduced by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to the Legislative Council; such amendments must be made with the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of all the members of the Legislative Council and the consent of the Chief executive

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The consultation

The NPCSC decision became the backbone of the document published by the government on 18 November 2009, entitled the "Consultation Document on the Methods for Selecting the Chief executive and for Forming the LegCo in 2012". The government said proposals broadened the scope of political participation and increase substantially the democratic elements in the 2012 elections.^[2] The consultation ended three months later with 47,200 written submissions being received.^[5]

Variables

The government notes that, despite calls from some quarters to discuss universal suffrage models, it has only been authorised by the NPCSC to determine the methods for selecting the CE and for forming the LegCo in 2012; how the two electoral methods should be amended for attaining universal suffrage is outside of its scope.^[2] It said that "there is still ample room for making amendments to the electoral method to enhance its democratic elements" in 2012, and proposed the following for LegCo elections:^[2]

• To increase the number of LegCo seats to 70 (from 60). The number of seats to be returned by geographical constituencies ("GCs") through direct elections and those returned by functional constituencies ("FCs") to be increased to 35 respectively;
• to have all the five new FC seats and the existing District Council seat returned through election by elected District Council members from among themselves, i.e. appointed District Council members will not take part in the election;
• the six District Council seats should be returned through election from among elected District Council members by proportional representation, so that in the 2012 LegCo, 41 seats (i.e. close to 60% of all seats) will be returned through geographical direct or indirect elections;
• that Hong Kong permanent residents who are not of Chinese nationality or who have the right of abode in foreign countries may stand in the elections for 12 FC seats (no change);
• that only elected District Council members will participate in the election of District Council seats in the Election Committee and the LegCo, thus enhancing the democratic elements of the elections.

For Chief executive elections, it proposes:^[2]

• to increase the number of members of the Election Committee to 1,200;
• to increase the proportion of elected District Council members in the Election Committee;
• to maintain the ratio of one-eighth of the total membership of the Election Committee (i.e. 150 members);
• no upper limit on the number of subscribers should be set at this stage;
• the requirement that the CE should not have any political affiliation should not be changed for the 2012 CE election, but can be reviewed in the longer term.

The Asia Times remarked that both proposals for LegCo and for the Chief executive "hedged in with so many ifs and buts that there is no guarantee of Hong Kong getting anything at all... "^[4]

However, the level of interest in, and the knowledge of, the proposals was low: A poll conducted by the University of Hong Kong on 18 November of 1,001 people found 68 per cent knew 'little' of what the consultation was all about; a similar survey three months later remained at 70 per cent. The pollster said the resignation plan by five legislators, without sufficient focus on the details of the reforms, shifted attention away from the plan. Albert Ho said the end game needed to be in the sights, because 2012 was only a transition. He dismissed the proposal as "meaningless" because it failed to address the pan-democrats' real concerns.^[6] On a three-day trip to Beijing in late December, Donald Tsang was asked by Chinese Communist Party general secretary Hu Jintao to handle Hong Kong's constitutional reforms 'in an appropriate manner'. He was told by Premier Wen Jiabao that Hong Kong 'should start to study major macro-issues relating to holistic developments and plan for the future. It should better resolve some deep-rooted conflicts in Hong Kong, make good uses of Hong Kong's advantages, sharpen Hong Kong's competitiveness and pay more attention to social services and people's livelihood.'^[7]

Pan-democrats all agreed that the proposals do not go far enough, but were divided on what action is needed.^[7] Significantly, the Democratic Party opted to engage with Beijing to negotiate, parting company with the Civic Party and the LSD. In January 2010, five legislators from the Civic Party and the LSD resigned their seats as part of the 'Five Constituencies Resignation' concept for meaningful political reform; Albert Chan, Alan Leong, Tanya Chan, "Longhair" Leung Kwok-hung and Wong Yuk-man resigned from LegCo.^[8] Their resignations were submitted on 26 January 2010, with effect on 29 January 2010.^[9] Beijing warned the five legislator not to resign. Chief executive Donald Tsang said the "so-called referendum" had no legal grounding.^[10] The resignations precipitated a by-election throughout the territory which takes place on 16 May 2010.

The 2009 package

In a surprise move, the government unveiled the revised package before they were scheduled. Key proposals, such as increasing the Election Committee for the chief executive election from 800 members to 1,200 in 2012 and increasing the number of Legislative Council members from 60 to 70, remained unchanged. It was proposed that the five additional Legco seats for the district council constituency would be elected by proportional representation instead of block voting as suggested by pan-democrats.^[11] Announcing the plan, Chief Secretary Henry Tang said the government tried to find the "maximum latitude to enhance the democratic elements of the two elections in 2012." He urged legislators to accept this 'golden opportunity' because there was no room for further concessions.^[11] The proposals will be put before Legco on 23 June, before the summer recess.^[12]

Comparisons with the 2004 package